Delivery schedule pressures from certain employers will be investigated by Devon and Cornwall Police after they caught more than 120 vans speeding during a 13 hour period.

Peninsula Road Safety Partnership operations manager Marcus Laine revealed that three white vans were caught going “in excess of 100mph” on the A38 and A30 in Devon and Cornwall.

He said police recorded 478 speeding offences during a 13-hour force-wide speeding surveillance operation - with 129 offences being committed by light commercial vehicles, which are often used by delivery drivers.

He told the BBC that over the next two weeks, police officers will now be looking at whether Christmas “delivery schedule pressures” from certain employers might be a factor and whether they are forcing drivers to speed.

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And a legal firm which led the case against taxi giant Uber is also representing seven drivers who say agencies used by Amazon are mistreating them.

One solicitor last night branded the drivers’ plight “horrendous”.

The delivery giant, which makes £7.3billion a year, does not employ them directly but uses an army of agencies instead. These agencies recruit drivers who work via an Amazon app and follow a delivery route set by the company.

Yet many of those carrying out the deliveries are so concerned by the job they are asked to do that they are blowing the whistle on standards.

Their claims are a world away from Amazon’s slick Christmas ad campaign, in which boxes are shown zipping around a spotless warehouse to the tune of Supertramp’s hit Give a Little Bit before going off on a “magical ­adventure”.

Mirror journalist Dan Warburton spent a day on the road with an Amazon delivery driver

A number of drivers from Prospect Commercial Ltd, a Kent-based company which operates across the UK, raised concerns about the work they do from Amazon’s Sheffield depot.

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They say they earn a fixed rate of £103 a route each day, while being offered van hire and insurance costing £200 a week.

They claim they are working as long as 12 hours each day, sometimes as much as 14 – despite UK law dictating that drivers must not be on duty for more than 11 hours in any working day. One 50-year-old worker told us he took home just £160 after forking out for van costs plus £140-worth of fuel, reimbursed later at 16p per mile.

Amazon claim the routes are calculated using “sophisticated software” which takes into account speed limits and traffic patterns.

But agency workers denied the system allowed for traffic jams or factored in time for breaks. Steven Eckett, head of employment at ­solicitors Meaby and Co, said: “These workers deliver Amazon packages, collected from an Amazon depot and are given a route designed by Amazon. They are Amazon workers in all but name.

“But Amazon are trying to distance themselves from the workers to circumvent employment law. This needs to be challenged.”

The speed at which drivers must go to hit targets has prompted many to contact the DVSA, which is also investigating claims they are exhausted and have to urinate in bottles.

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One worker told us: “Amazon sent an email to all managers to try to stop drivers carrying bottles filled with urine. The security guards were reporting people for it.

“But the allocation and number of stops, and the volume to be distributed for any given day, lies entirely with Amazon.”

Solicitors from Leigh Day are representing seven former drivers who claim agencies mistreated them.

Mirror journalist Dan Warburton spent a day on the road with an Amazon delivery driver

Employment law specialist Nigel Mackay has laid out a raft of employment complaints and claimed the workers are “mislabelled” as self-employed so bosses can deny them rights. And a leading union has called on Amazon’s US founder Jeff Bezos, 53, the world’s richest man who last year made £1.6million an hour, to do more to support agency workers.

Maria Ludkin, legal director of the GMB union said: “Employers might not like paying the minimum wage or giving their workers the protections they’re entitled to in the workplace, but it’s not optional. We don’t get to pick and choose which laws we adhere to and which we don’t like.”

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An Amazon spokesman told the Sunday Mirror: “Over 100 businesses across the UK are providing work opportunities to thousands of people delivering parcels to customers. We are committed to ensuring that the people contracted by our independent delivery providers are fairly compensated, treated with respect, follow all applicable laws and driving regulations and drive safely.

“Our delivery providers are expected to ensure drivers receive a minimum £12 per hour before deductions and excluding bonuses, incentives and fuel reimbursements."

An Amazon spokesman added: “As independent contractors of our delivery providers, drivers deliver at their own pace, take breaks at their discretion, and are able to choose the suggested route or develop their own.”